From my observations, the one major weakness of this particular defense has been defending the no-huddle offense, particularly against elite QB's. We saw Aaron Rodgers employ it this season (as well as Kolb on his final drive against us) and I saw it happen to us several times last season as well. We rely heavily on different substitution packages based on the offensive formations. Elite QB's like Brady, Rodgers, and Manning can effectively "lock" a particular defensive personnel package on the field that they recognize is a mismatch by employing the no-huddle offense, preventing substitutions.

I believe that Brady and company will be using the no-huddle offense quite a bit this Sunday. I am a bit worried how the defense is going to handle that and how many "12 men on the field" penalties there will be as well as valuable timeouts being wasted.

Yes. Brady has been running the no huddle offense all season long. He runs dinks, and dunks the ball up the field, and takes advantage of the underneath man. Things could get ugly very fast if our offense does not step it up.

Well in order for the no huddle work you must get first downs. If you look at the Carolina game they had like 3, 3-out's to start the game, Only had like 10 plays the first quarter and a half. my point is the no-huddle is meaningless unless than can convert, If the defense is able to continue it's improved play on 3rd down than I think we've got a chance to limit the damage.

However, I agree, we more than most are built around numerous packages and if the no-huddle get's rolling than it will be tough to get guys in and out without getting gassed.

I wonder if we'll enploy a nickle look as our base package this week to combat that.

jlwaters1 wrote:Well in order for the no huddle work you must get first downs. If you look at the Carolina game they had like 3, 3-out's to start the game, Only had like 10 plays the first quarter and a half. my point is the no-huddle is meaningless unless than can convert, If the defense is able to continue it's improved play on 3rd down than I think we've got a chance to limit the damage.

However, I agree, we more than most are built around numerous packages and if the no-huddle get's rolling than it will be tough to get guys in and out without getting gassed.

I wonder if we'll enploy a nickle look as our base package this week to combat that.

Their is a HUGE difference between Cam Newton and Tom Brady as passers. We're facing arguably the best QB in the game, an experienced vet at running no huddle offenses. This game worries the hell out of me.

Brought it up in several threads. Yes I am concerned but that article posted from the Boston paper speaks to the fact that the Pats will not go 100% no huddle, because of the impact it could have on their defense as well. So they will use it but maybe not exclusively.

I would expect them to use it early to take the crowd out of the game. This is a very challenging game for the defense. I also expect Hernandez to return this game, putting more pressure on the defense. Maybe our big hogs can provide pass rush? Big Red, Mebane and Branch will have to play their butts off.

drdiags wrote:Brought it up in several threads. Yes I am concerned but that article posted from the Boston paper speaks to the fact that the Pats will not go 100% no huddle, because of the impact it could have on their defense as well. So they will use it but maybe not exclusively.

I would expect them to use it early to take the crowd out of the game. This is a very challenging game for the defense. I also expect Hernandez to return this game, putting more pressure on the defense. Maybe our big hogs can provide pass rush? Big Red, Mebane and Branch will have to play their butts off.

I saw another stat that basically said most of our pass rush has came from our back up D-Lineman. When they are in the game then Brady can audible to a run and exploit the size of Jones, and Irvins tendency to over pursue. When our big boys are in they can pass it and we'll likely not get to the passer. Interesting condundrum to be sure.

Kam for the most part has been playing well this season, but I would say he hasn't been "Pro Bowl level" because he hasn't been as strong in coverage as last year, particularly against big TE's. He struggled against Witten in the Dallas game and if he hadn't dropped so many balls, Kam would have looked even worse.

I am a little worried about how he will be able to handle Gronk and Hernandez this week...

There's a few ways to neutralize this:1) Noise (we'll have a lot of that)2) Pressure/Sacks- as soon as he goes on his back, it's very difficult to run the next play in a no huddle. Primarily because everyone has to move backwards and usually they have to call a play for 2nd or 3rd and longer.3) Incomplete passes- It's all about flow. If we can knock some balls down then we will succeed.

I think Brady is going to get pick 6'd this game. It's just a hunch I have..I had the same hunch that the Vikes were going to beat the 9ers.